THE SPORT IN SYDNEY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 109, 10 May 1928, Page 13

THE SPORT IN SYDNEY.

WHY IT IS UNPOPULAR. Because the control of the sport is not consistently as strict as it should be, a number of drivers of trotters are suspected of pulling their charges whenever it suits them, and the accusation that glaring cases of "dead" running occur at almost every meeting in Sydney without those responsible meeting with official .censure would seem to call for full inquiry, says the "Daily Telegraph Pictorial." The men who make their living by training and driving trotters and pacers would, if the charges were proved, be shown to be working against themselves. One often hears wonderment expressed at the poorness of the attendances at Epping and Victoria Park, compared with those attracted by trotting fixtures in New Zealand. The reason for the sport's failure to gain the popularity which it might is not hard to discover. "Have you ever seen worse?" "They will all get twelve months but the winner."

These were only two of the many remarks overheard in the paddock enclosure at a recent meeting at Epping. Early in the betting for the Tramway Handicap, Lonelywood was at odds against, and fair support was forthcoming for several of his opponents, including Nan's Derby, against whom threes were laid. Before operations ceased the market suggested that nothing else was given a chance against the Childe-

wood gelding, for he had firmed to odds . on, while Nan's Derby had eased, and the only other candidate at a singlefigure quotation was Glen Idyll. The race was run as the betting prophesied it would be. Lonelywood Was on the limit, but he was slow to leave the mark, and when the field settled down he was conceding the leaders many lengths, and apparently in a hopeless position. The only horse behind him was Nan's Derby, who did not get going until the horse at the head of the field had covered somewhere about half a furlong. It was thought that the leaders had gained such a great advantage at the start that there was no chance of their being overhauled. However, the favourite had the race in his keeping a long way from home. Without being extended, Lonelywood ran home a winner by a length and ahalf from Royal Maori, with Wallywood three lengths farther back.